London vegan news, reviews & events
I’ve been away from the UK for a while.
Well, actually it has been more than a while. I’ve been in Mexico City for six months.
During my absence, it appears that vegan options in UK supermarkets have simply exploded in popularity and availability.
I popped into my local Tesco Extra earlier today and was completely blown away by the enormous range of vegan products lining the shelves.
Check out just some of the dozens and dozens of new vegan groceries I saw.
It has been a long time since I’ve eaten with Hug & Pint in Glasgow and even a longer time since I blogged about them.
I have always been blown away by the inventive and tasty food at this Glaswegian kitchen inside a bar that is above a live music venue, so I felt the need to give them a shout.
The menu is ever-changing and features small bowls and plates perfect for sharing. Order a whole bunch of them and share with friends.
You really need to follow Hug & Pint on Instagram to stay updated with their latest cuisine creations.
You can see the location of the venue online here thanks to Google Maps. The kitchen opens at midday every day.
Now, take a look at some of their latest dishes that caught my eye.
It’s easy to get a bit jaded.
Are we getting overwhelmed by vegan news and vegan opening? Have we reached peak vegan?
Just as I thought I could no longer be impressed, along comes a vegan pizza canal boat!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkuwdLYnje4/
The Country Punk Kin Pizza Boat is a travelling vegan takeaway pizzeria travelling, stopping, and serving up delicious pizza regularly between Devizes and Bristol.
The concept is simple.
Follow the pizza boat on Instagram to find out where they are moored and then show up for pizza.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkss65oH06i/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkstQlKH5AC/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkfRX-PHNUr/
I couldn’t be more in love with this concept if I tried.
Please follow The Country Punk Kin Pizza Boat on Instagram and make plans to eat with them this summer.
It is always satisfying to see people enjoying Hackney Downs Vegan Market.
The traders put in so much effort into their products, Josh and I work overtime to make sure everything running smoothly, and our market manager Robertas is the star who pulls all the pieces together each Saturday.
We all work hard so our visitors leave with a smile.
Just like Club Mexicana did this past Saturday!
When they aren’t being legends with their own vegan businesses (such as running the kitchen at The Spread Eagle vegan pub), Club Mexicana love to openly support other vegan traders via their Instagram page.
You can see all of their photos from their market visit below.
You really should follow Club Mexicana on Instagram just for their Stories alone. They get up to so many cool vegan adventures.
EXTRA NOTE: There will be NO Hackney Downs Vegan Market on Saturday July 14, 2018 due to us hosting London Vegan Beer Fest on site that day. In a full circle moment, Club Mexicana will be one of our food traders at the beer fest! Click here to buy early bird tickets.
Is this a UK first?
The organisers of Vegstock reached out to me in order to ask me to share this information with you:
There are many fabulous vegan festivals around the UK but very few vegan music festivals, so Vegstock was born! The first Vegstock will take place Sunday 16th September, 2018 at the fab music venue The Piano Works in Farringdon, London. We have a full afternoon and evening of vegan bands lined up, alongside some great vegan food and clothing vendors. The event is in aid of Open Cages who are an organisation trying to make this a better and happier world for factory farmed animals.
I really haven’t seen many all-vegan band line ups in the UK, so this is great news.
Band scheduled to perform on the day include:
Food vendors will include Vegan Sweet Tooth London, Shakey Shakey Vegan, Sheila’s Kitchen, and more to be announced.
Early bird tickets for just £5 plus booking fee are available by clicking here now and you can RSVP and invite friends over on the Facebook event page.
Now this is just hilarious.
Argos is a catalogue retailer specialising in home furniture (amongst other items). It is famous in the UK for its giant catalogue containing an overwhelming amount of products including garden furniture, toys, stationery, home decorating needs, and so much more.
The retail outlet has caused a storm this week by selling a vegan BBQ. Check it out below:
Yes, it is a cheap metal BBQ. No different to any other BBQ you will see for sale in home stores and sporting outlets.
But some genius at Argos came up with the idea of putting the ‘v’ word in the product in order to cash in on the hype surrounding veganism. This is the most hilarious and shameless marketing I have seen in a very long time.
Of course the absurdity is that vegans can buy any of the 75 or so BBQs listed on the Argos site, but the retailer is maybe trying to trigger an emotional response from plant eaters and trick them into buying this model.
And I think it is working.
As I hovered my cursor over the product, a small pop up warning box told me more than 100 of these items had been ordered over the past 48 hours.
If for some strange reason you feel the need to possess this vegan BBQ, you can order it online here.
I was tagged in a fabulous post on social media a few days ago.
As you all know (because I never shut up about it), my first ever book titled Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t was published a few months ago.
But in news that has just reached me, my book is now available in Australia!
It’s a nice feeling to know this book is finally available to buy in the country where I spent my formative years.
There are so many stories from Australia packed into the book, from my childhood spent marauding across Queensland beaches to my young adult years in Sydney share houses.
If you are in Australia and would like to buy a copy, you can ask your local independent bookstore to order it in. Alternatively, you can order online from Booktopia.
I’m not trying to be provocative or dramatic, but I truly think TEMPLE GOODS of Hackney is heralding in a new era of vegan food for London.
They keep getting better by the day and have raised the bar like nobody else.
The café (located on site at Hackney Downs Studios) is now open 7-days a week and is serving all day brunch on the weekend, exclusive weekly specials, decadent cakes, coffee, and some of the most inventive plant-based cuisine you can find anywhere on the planet.
And you know it is run owned and operated by the Temple of Seitan team, right?!
The Chick’n Club sandwich featuring their RIDICULOUS vegan bacon and egg is next level. I’m shocked (in a good way) by the quality of the cuisine being served up daily inside TEMPLE GOODS.
Check out some of the photos below including noodle salad, the brunch plate starring the realest non-egg you will see, and the aforementioned club sandwich.
Doesn’t it look gorgeous?
Follow TEMPLE GOODS on Instagram to stay updated with all the latest food photos and be sure to get along soon to try it for yourself.
Remember, the café is on site where we host Hackney Downs Vegan Market every Saturday so you can combine a trip to the market with a visit to TEMPLE GOODS.
The café is also one of our locations for London Vegan Beer Fest on Saturday July 14, 2018. TEMPLE GOODS will be transforming into a beer hall for the day with specials such as bratwurst and pretzels. They will only be serving customers with London Vegan Beer Fest tickets so be sure to book your early bird tickets right now.
If you think eating vegan food in London is a relatively new phenomenon that has found popularity over the past two years, you clearly haven’t done your reading.
There have been food providers working hard to showcase plant-based cuisine for a very long time, with one of these businesses recently celebrating a 7th birthday that completely passed me by.
Ms. Cupcake threw open its doors WAY BACK in April 2011, meaning London’s first ever vegan bakery turned seven years old earlier this year.
That is an incredible achievement for any food business and even more impressive for a vegan business that was paving the way for many others to follow. Mellissa Morgan and her Ms. Cupcake brand have become globally recognised and the store front is still there on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton for you to visit 7-days a week.
I am sharing some recent food photos from the bakery with you below, but let’s also get some important links listed on here.
Click here to see the exact location of the bakery thanks to Google Maps.
Follow Ms. Cupcake on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Find out about ordering bespoke cakes via the bakery’s website.
Order your own copy of the Ms. Cupcake recipe book and get a free Nanaimo bar recipe from the book online here. You can even step back in time to see my blog post from that grand opening day over 7 years ago!
